Saturday, December 24, 2005

A tale of Miss-Tree

In the last three years, every Christmas, I seem to have had a different kinda headgear.

2003 - Headgear of snowflakes

UK. My first snow. My first snowball. My first snowball fight. The very experience of looking up at the sky, and watching the tiny snowflakes slowly descending on my little black dress. Masi screaming at me and my cousins, "Get inside!" and we screaming back, "Get outside!" Finally, we dragged everyone out and had the most awesome snowball fight. Almost got knocked out by a snowball Sid threw at me! :|

This is me holding my first ever snowball!







2004 - Santa cap


I convinced all editors in the Science and Maths teams to wear red to work on Christmas eve. We even bought Santa caps for everyone. Everyone was very enthu about the caps all morning.

My Managing Editor looked at us and remarked with amusement, "Whatever happened to my editors today? I only see Santarinas around!"

The santarinas were all over the office, spreading cheer. However, by lunchtime, most caps came off, but I, the stubborn one, refused to take mine off.

One of my designers P came to me and said, "Now this is my kinda Santa!"

The evening was also all about Santa caps. I was at my friend's bachelor party, and in the true Christmas spirit, we were all wearing Santa caps, this time the one with flashing lights.

Then somehow all the caps got mixed up, and later I decided not to take mine home. For the very simple reason that Lady K had been wearing it. Not that there's any problem with Lady K wearing my Christmas cap. Except for one slight issue. Just like the other Lady K in the movie Titanic who said "wearing only this", my cap was also the only thing this Lady K was wearing.

I learnt the valuable lesson that being the only girl apart from the stripper at a bachelor's party is not such a good idea after all. The things she did with the cap left me with no desire to take it back home.

I even came up with a corny spoof song for Lady K a la George Michael:

Last Christmas I gave you my cap
But the very next minute, you were sittin' on it
This year, to save me from fears
(Have not thought of a fitting last line yet!)

This year, one of the attendees of that bachelor's party sent an email to the rest of us. The subject of the email was 'I know what you did...' and the body of the email said 'last christmas'. After laughing uncontrollably for about a minute or so, I did a reply all saying, 'Shouldn't I, as the only girl, be sending this email to the rest of you??" That email sure brought back not-so-pleasant memories.

So this year, I had no plans for any Christmas headgear. But it looks like fate had other plans for me.

2005 - Hawa-hawaai headgear


My company had a Christmas party this afternoon. At the entrance, we were asked to pick a hat each from a rather horrendous looking collection of plastic hats. Should I take the pink n blue one, or the multicoloured one? Realising that all of them were equally ugly, I picked one up that was a screaming fluorescent yellow with a black band. If you're gonna do it, do it in style, I say.

They say that the choices you make lead you to your destiny. It was true for me. The hat I chose led me to my rather interesting destiny.

The organisers asked us to form groups of ten based on the hat colours, to play some game. We were asked to number our group members. Then there was an announcement, "Number seven of each group, you are..."

"The group leader! Yippee!" I mentally completed the sentence.

(Errr... Yes, I was number seven. And I can get very competitive in these kinda games.)


"The Christmas tree!" said the person making the announcement.

"Yippp... hey wait a minute, did she say Christmas tree?????" I stopped in my tracks.

"Yes, she did!" said my delighted groupmates. "And now we're gonna make a delightful Christmas tree of you."

Before I could say "What the..??!!" there was another shocker. We were given a box that apparently contained materials for decoration.

On opening it, we found a roll of toilet paper and a roll of scotch-tape.


Thanks a lot man. Whoever thought of it.

But at least we were given the option of using any other material we wished. The best Christmas tree would win the prize.

My team soon got busy.

Over my fluorescent yellow hat, I had an assortment of fake fruits, apples, peaches, grapes, the works. I believe I strongly resembled Miss Hawa Hawaii from the movie Mr. India!

My costume was a three-layer white dress made of strips of toilet paper. There was a mini Christmas tree stuck to the top of my hat, possibly to give me a triangular shape. My earrings consisted of humongous golden Christmas tree balls. Puppets in the shape of characters from my books were stuck all over the white dress. There were empty boxes, more puppets and more fake fruits around my feet to act as Christmas presents.

I looked at the other groups and their 'Christmas trees'. Most of them looked quite tortured and traumatised. But I was having a ball! It's not every day that you have three guys and seven girls dressing you up. I felt like a pampered bride from a royal family in medieval times. Only difference is that the royal family in medieval times probably did not wear wedding dresses made of toilet paper.

Suddenly we heard an announcement that the tree should have a theme and an explanation of the objects used to decorate it. That's when we panicked, because obviously, we were just having fun, and there really was no theme to what we were doing.

Finally, after many many corny jokes ("Save the trees, recycle toilet paper!" being just one of them), we decided on 'Environment-consciousness Christmas tree'. As the spokesperson of my team described every bit of my 'costume', I stood there and animatedly pointed at each decor item as it was being described. I kinda felt like an uninterested air hostess aboard an Air India flight, telling uninterested passengers about where the emergency exits were.

For some strange reason, I had a yo-yo with a model of the globe in my hand. My spokesperson pointed out the yo-yo with a concluding line "That shows that the earth is hanging from a string. Save it!" It was a blast. Howls of laughter greeted the sight of me, which I am still not sure was a good sign or a bad one. People started taking pictures with their phone cameras dammit! My own editor Banana was having quite a good laugh looking at her boss looking like a moron, and was clicking away to glory.

The picture reproduced here is from her collection. I can't really post the others 'cos of privacy issues, as people are visible in all of them. So I cropped out my hawa-hawaii hat, and here it is!







We did not win. Of course. This is real life, not Bollywood. The cool guys don't always win in real life.

But they do make sure they have a blast of a time.



39 comments:

Rays Of Sun said...

Me wearing Christams clothes and saying "Me first"

Rays Of Sun said...

WHAT? 2:30 ko you are AWAKE? Kya hua tujhe??:))

Rays Of Sun said...

Yeay! we saw that Santa banta outfit:) Lady in red:D

Rays Of Sun said...

//That shows that the earth is hanging from a string. Save it//

Hahahahaahah..after controversies that Earth is flat, earth is sphere now earth hangs from a string:D

Anonymous said...

Wow...sure looks like everyone had a blast Sash! Hahaa......what a novel idea..to be dressed as a Christmas Tree! And it had to be you...Hahaaa. Lovely memory to have :-).

Anonymous said...

//My costume was a three-layer white dress made of strips of toilet paper.

Hmm... Had heard of newspaper-based dresses, and now this. The world has indeed come a long way!

Sayesha said...

#ROS,
Abhi se Christmas clothes?? Arre Singapore mein Christmas pehle hoga! Muahaha! :D

#ROS,
//2:30 ko you are AWAKE? Kya hua tujhe??:))

Tere aur Viks ki sangat ka assar hai! Bigad gayi! :D
Nahin re, went out with friends, got back late, decided to blog and then sleep. :)

#Harshi,
You said it girl. It had to be me! :|
:D

#Whatever,
This is what happens when book designers turn fashion designers (my team was largely comprised of designers). :)

#Vikram,
Nahin re, woh toh LA mein jaake baitha hai! He's leching at the women there! ;)

Rays Of Sun said...

OK! Vikram is Mr.India now:P
Oye! Wasnt Anil Kapoor your HERO...
BTW, Sridevi kaun hai tere:P (Oops Sridevi"yan")

Sahil said...

//Then there was an announcement, "Number seven of each group, you are..."

//"The group leader! Yippee!" I mentally completed the sentence.

Hahahahahhaha that really had me laughing out loud! I can almost feel how excited you got when they announced it! I always knew you had a bit of a 'Monica' streak in you.. my ulta-competitive chick :)

Anish said...

hey sayesha....merry christmas :-)

R said...

dressed in toilet paper!! :D :D :D!!!!
lolz man!!
that waz way too phunny!!
btw, have a great xmas..:) and u sure had some fun at the get together!!.
njoy!

Raj said...

Never seen snow :(

And couldn't attend the christmas party yesterday 'cos of work :((

Anywho, Merry christmas :)

educatedunemployed said...

HAAHHAHHAHA! Sounds like soooooooo much fun.So what you didn't win..You made the most out of it.Yeays!!Double Yeays..Sayesha style...

Sayesha said...

#ROS,
Hahahaha! Yeah Anil Kapoor was Viks' favourite! Hahaha! :D

#Sahil,
Errr... ok fine you know a bit about how I am! :P
Waise, I think I am 10% Monica, 10% Rachel and 80% Phoebe.

#Anish,
Merry Christmas to you too, buddy! :)

#Ruchi,
You have a great Christmas too, my dear! :)

#Raj,
I'd never seen snow till two years ago. And I'd refuse to go to any of the touristy Snow City kind of places. I was adamant that I'd see real snow before I saw the fake version! So one fine day I woke up and bought an air ticket to London! :P

Merry Christmas to you too! :)

#Educated,
Yeay! Double yeay! Merry Christmas! :)

virdi said...

ahhhhh... pretty hands... :-) I see you... I see you... :-)

V..

virdi said...

i can eat the hat... :-) yummy it looks...

V..

The Girl Who Sold The World said...

Human christmas tree? Sounds fun.
So, how was the experience of getting yourself draped in toilet paper? Exciting?
Earth hanging from a string? lol...Copernicus won't like it...he might even curse from his grave. lol
Nice hat. ;)
Merry Christmas. :D

Sayesha said...

#Virdi,
//pretty hands... :-) I see you... I see you...

Long time no see, eh? ;)

// i can eat the hat... :-) yummy it looks...

Hahaha! Yeah, I'm sure it's very yummy. One small technical detail though -- the fruits are all made of plastic. :D

#Mockingbird,
Haha! I had loads of fun! :D
Merry Christmas to you too! :)

Pi said...

I know what you did last christmas!!

U should visit me anytime from now until March 2006. You will see more snow that you would have ever seen in your life. We can even make a snowman. :P

virdi said...

You mean I cant eat the fruits on the hat??? I can eat plastic... I will... I have to now... Just to show off, even though they are made of plastic I have to eat them...

One question, secretly... Is it really plastic??

V..

R said...

hawa hawaii!! must have been funny!!


by the way...
Merry Christmas!!

Have fun! Warm wishes your way!

Pi said...

virdi: it is not plastic, it is made of chicken. lol:) hahaha

Sayesha said...

//I know what you did last christmas!!

I did?? I did?? HAHAHAHAHA! Can't believe you have the cheek to say that! Ulta chor kotwaal ko daante??! HAHAHAHA! :D

I wanna make a snowman! :( But no chance of getting there before May 2006.

#Virdi,
//One question, secretly... Is it really plastic??

One answer, secretly. Read American Pie's second comment! :D

#Rohit,
Yeah it was fun and funny! :)
Merry Christmas to you too, pal! :)

#American Pie,
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! :D Thanks for the early morning hearty laugh! :D

Rays Of Sun said...

Baby, Have something for Christmas on my Blog:)

Sayesha said...

#ROS,
Saw it saw it! :) And wondering kaun sa wala wish mere liye hain! ;)

Pi said...

Hey i saw Bluffmaster today. what a classy movie.... !!

Rays Of Sun said...

Publically nahi bol saktee;)
But am sure you have the eyes to read between:D

virdi said...

Dear Sayesha and AmericanPi>>

Chicken is my weakness and you know where to target whom. Good Good Jao Jao...

Ja Puttar Ja... jee le aapni zindagi....

Merry christmas and all that to you... and get ready now you might get tagged on some gross things... will send porn links to both your blogs... as soon as anyone opens your blogs, porn sites will open... I don't know how to do it, I just wish it happens to your blogs...

V..

Sayesha said...

#American Pie,
I didn't find the movie really great, but Ritesh Deshmukh rocks :)

#ROS,
Hmmm... lagta hai mera shak sahi nikla! You're so wishing for me to get married this year, hai na?

#Virdi,
Shut up and haath dhokar dining table par baith jao. I am making garam garam pav bhaji! :D
ps: And it has no chicken! :D

Abhi said...

Hai raam , with all the fun you have in ur office , it looks all the more a rosy place by the day.its real nice to see you guys having all this fun while.im not sure if ill be picking a lehmann brothers job in new york over yours !

And a meri kishmish to you buddy !!!!

Unknown said...

that must have been fun! True! Cool guys don't win always! Eitherway good u had a blast & that's what is important in life!

Happy christmas & very happy new year!

Rashmi.

virdi said...

OK :-)

Pav Bhaaji ke liye main kuch bhi kar sakta hoon...

dhink chick dhink chick...

V..

BP said...

Hey Merry Christmas!
P.S. Why didn't you post the full-length shot? ;)

Neha Sinha said...

hahahha....kehte hain tujhko hawa hawaii :))

well decked ...jus trying to visualise a human (christmas) tree. :)))

merry christmas :)

yippee...welcome me :P

Sayesha said...

#Jughead,
Arre Jaggu bhai, the kind of person you are, wherever you work, it'll be a fun office ! :)
ps: Meri kaju to you too! (Sorry, bad one!)

#Rashmi,
Thanks, babe! Merry Christmas to you too! :)

#Virdi,
Hehehe... maloom tha! Come over quick, pav bhaji's still hot! And it's yum! :P

#Banana,
Merry Christmas, girl!
I was trying to stick to the whole 'headgear' theme... but maybe I should have posted the full-length shot. Never mind, it's an old post now :)

#Pandora,
Bijli giraaaaane main hoon aayiii
Kehte hain mujhko hawwa-hawwaaaiiii! :D


Welcome to Sayeshaz, sweetheart! :)

Kathy said...

Merry xmas sayesha...im always enjoying ur blog,thanx^_^
May God showers you and your family>>> love,happiness and blessings for always!

-kathy-

Sayesha said...

Hi Kathy,
Thanks so much for your wishes! Merry Christmas and warm wishes to you too! :)

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